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SWAZILAND
The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small country in
southern Africa, embedded between South Africa in the west and Mozambique in
the east.
History
Human remains and artifacts from more than 100,000 years ago have been found
in Swaziland. Evidence of agriculture and iron use dates from about the 4th
century CE, and people speaking languages ancestral to current Sotho and
Nguni languages began settling no later than the 11th century CE. The ruling
Dlamini lineage had chiefships in the region in the 18th century. An enlarge
Swazi kingdom was established by Sobhuza I in the early 19th century. Soon
thereafter the first whites started to settle in the area. In the 1890s the
South African Republic in the Transvaal claimed sovereignty over Swaziland
but never fully established power. After the South African War of 1899-1902,
Swaziland became a British dependency. The country was eventually granted
independence on September 6, 1968. Since then, Swaziland has seen a struggle
between pro-democracy activists and the totalitarian monarchy.
Politics
The head of state is the king, which since 1986 has been King Mswati III. By
tradition, the king reigns along with his mother, the former viewed as the
administrative head of state and the latter as a spiritual and nationoal
head of state. As the monarch, the king not only appoints the prime minister
- the head of government - but also appoints a small number representatives
for both chambers of the Libandla (parliament). The Senate consists of 30
members, while the House of Assembly has 65 seats, 55 of which are occupied
by elected representatives (elections held every 5 years).
Districts
Swaziland is divided into four districts:
Hhohho
Lubombo
Manzini
Shishelweni
Geography
Swaziland offers a wide variety of landscapes, from the mountains along the
Mozambican border to savannas in the east and rainforest in the northwest.
Several rivers flow through the country, such as the Lusutfu River. With
50,000 inhabitants, the capital city of Mbabane is the largest town in the
nation; others include Manzini, Lobamba and Siteki.
Economy
In this small, landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies more
than 80% of the population. The manufacturing sector has diversified since
the mid-1980s. Sugar and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange earners.
Mining has declined in importance in recent years with only coal and quarry
stone mines remaining active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a short
border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on South Africa from
which it receives nine-tenths of its imports and to which it sends more than
two-thirds of its exports. Customs duties from the Southern African Customs
Union and worker remittances from South Africa substantially supplement
domestically earned income. The government is trying to improve the
atmosphere for foreign investment. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and
sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of
the population needed emergency food aid in 2002 because of drought, and
more than one-third of the adult population was infected by HIV. 2004
Swaziland acknowledges for the first time that it has one of the highest
Aids rates in the world, with almost 40% of adults infected with the HIV.
Prime Minister Themba Dlamini has declared a humanitarian crisis due to the
combined effect of drought and land degradation, increasing poverty and HIV/Aids.
The United Nations special envoy on AIDS Stephen Lewis said “Swaziland
stands alone with the world's highest rate of HIV infection after nearby
Botswana made headway against the deadly pandemic.”
Demographics
The majority of the population consists of Swazi, but there are also small
numbers of Zulu, Europeans and Mozambican refugees. The official languages
are Swati and English; the latter is also the official written language. The
chief religion is Christianity, often in a form blended with several
indigenous religions. There are also Jewish and Muslim communities.
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